Traditionally, collar weights for hand held spray faucets hold down a flexible hose in a proper position for ease of moving and using the hand held faucet attached to the hose. Such conventional hose weights utilize an alloy of primarily lead, since lead is a very heavy metal, which can minimize the volume of metal required to provide a weight for maintaining a lightweight hose connected to a hand held spray faucet, in an untangled position below a sink.
However, the use of lead for such weight articles has been found to be harmful since there is a tendency for the lead to leach out of the hose weight and come into contact with humans.
Other metals present problems which detract from their use as suitable weights for spray faucet hoses in the humid environment below a sink surface. For example, steel has a tendency to rust in a humid environment, such as below a sink surface, and rust resistant stainless steel weights are expensive to manufacture. On the other hand, rust resistant metals such as aluminum are too lightweight to provide an adequate weight, without being an unreasonably large size.
The spray faucet hose weight of the present invention preferably includes a composition including a zinc alloy, which may contain additional alloying elements in varying amounts. The term "zinc alloy" refers to an alloy substantially of zinc; the composition of which can also include other metals in varying, though lesser, amounts. The zinc content of the composition should preferably be about 95% by weight.
As a result, the weight of the present invention provides an adequate rustproof anti-gravity weight without a large increase in volume of size for the weight.